ASPA (ACT)

Another change of leadership took place in Canberra. John Hamilton voluntarily stepped aside in order to clear the way for a fresh candidate.

John is a young levelheaded person.  He took the right decision at the right time, when he could get a deserved heartfelt thank you for his effort. If John had elected to continue for another year, he would have continued unopposed.

I wish all ASPA committees would follow this wise example. Unluckily, this is not the case with a few. In one case, they had to be dragged into courts in order to have their incompetence exposed. Even then, they would not voluntarily step down in order to clear the way for others. They would rather continue to play musical chairs for many more years or decades. The president may become secretary, then would evolve as ordinary member, while the secretary may become president and the vice would wait for a turn as president. Thus, the main four committee members behind the demise of that particular association may continue to drag it down, assisted by their friends. Would any one of this gang of four refrain from nomination next November? NOH…NAH, even NUH for a challenge. Many other members want a role in the salvation process, while many more are shying away from participating in what might be misconstrued as an unwarranted power struggle.

EXPIRY DATES

One of ASPA’s  state committees have already held their Annual General Meeting of 2015. Below is an excerpt from the President’s Report:

“The Committee has also been looking at succession planning and "X" has indicated that she would be willing to take over the role of President in the future once she has retired (from her bread-and-butter job). By that time I will be happy to relinquish my role as president as it is important for a change of leadership.”

The above statement, by a competent relatively young president, emphasises the importance of voluntary devolution of power. Such commendable action is necessary for the introduction of new ideas and renewal of energy. It wards off stagnation, especially if the age of the incumbent is past their ability to be useful or innovative.

Compare this to some other states, where the presidents cling to their presumed power for extended terms. When some of them sense the possibility of another younger person coming forward, they go out of their way seeking another extension of their stay. Instead of paving the way for another fresh candidate, they feign illness to milk sympathy from the membership, while soliciting proxy votes.

When will some people realise that all humans have their brains stamped with a date seal stating their “best before” date?

THE SOLUTION: NEW REFINED SCRABBLE ASSOCIATION

We all invested many years playing Scrabble. We put up with much commercial exploitation in the form of periodic additions and deletions to approved vocabulary. Vocabulary itself deteriorated with the addition of foreign words, abbreviations, acronyms and colloquial nonsense.

The last straw was the introduction of a new three-year dictionary change cycle, instead of the five-year cycle, which we unwillingly tolerated. It is obvious that the change is commercially motivated.

The solution is simple. We need to register a new incorporated association, something like “Proper English Scrabble Association Inc.”. All we need is a minimum of six founding members, to be picked from among players who are sick of the current state of affairs. I can look after the registration process.

The aim is to adopt a new dictionary, to be permanent for at least 5 or 10 years. An initial idea is to adopt a scrabble form of the Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries.

We need to produce our own adjudication programme for quick checking purposes. For this reason, we require at least one enthusiastic member with the required technological skill. We also need to examine and avoid copyright issues.

Should you be interested please email me, as an initial contact. Your identity would remain confidential, if you wish:

mohammedhegazi@gmail.com

If the idea appeals to sufficient numbers, we would have our initial general meeting shortly after. We can then say goodbye to incompetence.